The Ministry of External Affairs was in the process of sending a note verbale to Denmark seeking extradition of Kim Davy, the main accused in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case.

The Ministry of External Affairs was in the process of sending a note verbale to Denmark seeking extradition of Kim Davy, the main accused in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case, with an assurance that he will be repatriated to that country to serve any prison term following his possible conviction in India.

Relenting to pressure from Danish authorities, New Delhi may give an executive assurance to Copenhagen that Davy will not be sentenced to death for any offence committed by him in India and that he will be repatriated to Denmark to serve any prison sentence after his trial, official sources said.

This was cleared by the Union Cabinet in the last week of April and sent to the Ministry of External Affairs for necessary action and to take up the matter with the Denmark authorities.

During the intervening night of December 17-18, 1995, an AN-26 aircraft flew over Purulia in West Bengal and dropped a huge cache of assault rifles and ammunition near the Anandmarg headquarters at Anandnagar.

While the aircraft`s Latvian crew and British national Peter Bleach were arrested at Mumbai airport four days later, Davy managed to escape and was later traced to Denmark.

The CBI located Davy, a Danish citizen, and sent an extradition request. In response to this, Danish authorities submitted seven conditions to New Delhi, including one that Davy would serve any prison term in Denmark, the sources said, adding after an initial negative reaction, the CBI and the Centre agreed to the conditions.